Archived: Movies
Movies are great. I just don't watch enough of them.
A few weeks back a small gang of us got together to watch Sin City at the movies (it's great, worth checking out on the big screen). We were at the super-mega-plex at Innaloo, where they've got little LED screens above the door of each cinema to tell you what's showing.
Problem is, the screens aren't wide enough for today's overly-descriptive titles. Witness the Sesame Street style genius of:
- Monster in L
- War of the W
- Mrs and Mrs S
- The Fantastic F
And okay, so that photo is of the Luna Leederville (where they use old-school signs and chalk) and not the super-mega-plex at Innaloo (home of LED truncation hilarity). Why? Because Luna's much cooler.
Posted on Tuesday, August 9, 2005
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I managed to catch a preview of Cate Shortland's debut feature Somersault at the Luna the other night, and it's definitely worth checking out if you get a chance.
Everyone's raving (and with good reason) about Abbie Cornish's performance as Heidi, and Sam Worthington is great as Joe (Trivia Thursday! K was Sam Worthington's peer support at high school). But you can read about serious things like performances and direction from more credible sources than me, so I'll move on.
Continue reading "Somersault"
Posted on Thursday, September 16, 2004
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For everybody who missed it the first time around, SBS are repeating Get Ready to be Boyzvoiced again this Monday night at 10.55pm. If you had no idea what all the fuss was about last time, this is your chance.
Posted on Sunday, January 25, 2004
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As promised, here's a taste of the soon-to-be-legendary pulp horror flick That Thing From Over There as interpreted by the rowdy gang at Matt's place on Thursday. While saving out the original mix this afternoon (as used in the Billy film) we stumbled across some wonderfully dodgy sound effects, so it got embellished to become the epic, big-budget effects mix that it is now.
Enjoy.
Posted on Sunday, November 16, 2003
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I think one of the strengths and weaknesses of pairing Matt and I together to work on a project is the sheer perfectionism that results. Every time we work on a film project, it somehow ends up being a spectacular production, usually above and beyond all reasonable expection.
Which explains how we've ended up spending fairly crazy amounts of time filming and editing the latest, an eight minute video set in 1950's instructional style. It's quite something.
It's worth all the late nights hacking scenes when you can drag some mates around on a Thursday night to record the dialogue to an equally 1950's-style horror flick that's used in the soundtrack. If we get excited I might steal a copy of the audio and pop it on here over the weekend.
Posted on Friday, November 14, 2003
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The lucky folks in the US have been enjoying NetFlix for some time, and years later, we're finally getting the same deal here in Australia. For those not familiar, you pay a monthly subscription for the service, which lets you borrow any three DVDs at one time. Keep them as long as you want, no late fees, send one back and you get the next one on your list. Genius.
About a month back, Quickflix was announced, taking the NetFlix model and plonking it down here. One of the founders happens to be a competitor of my business, but hey, good luck to him. The site's coming soon page looks pretty groovy anyway (some slick visual appeal is probably the one thing NetFlix is missing).
Another one to keep an eye on: HomeScreen. Yesterday an ex-Yahoo Australia MD has announced a similar service launching in a couple of weeks. I don't know about you, but I'm keen on checking out both services when they each swagger into the market.
Posted on Wednesday, August 6, 2003
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Ahhh, yes. The Matrix Reloaded. I see April still hasn't written about it, so I'll attempt to fill the void.
First, some back-story. The original Matrix was good. Not amazing, but good (I was always bitter that it got so much hype, and Dark City was completely overlooked). It bugged me on a few levels, but overall it's a pretty solid mix of plot and action. And to be honest, I've seen it maybe twice all the way through. Yep, I was that ambivalent.
And then the thundering juggernaut that is Reloaded came along. I don't think I'm quite ready to talk about it yet (read Rolling Stone's review for something close).
One thing that did sour the experience was the insult that was passed off as a conclusion. After 138 minutes I'd expect more than a "click! go see the sequel!" I should go to see the next film in the series because I want to, not because I need to in order to resolve pretty much every plot point from this movie.
But then maybe that's just me.
Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2003
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I'll cut a long story short and just state a fact here: I'm a big fan of movies from Pixar. So far, they've proven Hollywood wrong and had major hits with every feature film release (and their short films are equally amazing).
So why, why, why, why why are we getting their latest, Finding Nemo (US release May 30) in August? Granted, Australia's not doing too badly. The New Zealand release date is September and the UK waits till October. And pity the poor folks in Iceland, who have to wait until Boxing Day to find out where the hell Nemo is (answer: not in Iceland).
Posted on Thursday, May 8, 2003
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Caught a few movies the last few weeks, and never got around to posting about it.
They're all good though: Aussie comedy Crackerjack and the classic 'The Party' both @ Sunset Cinema (the place to see comedies); I finally watched Empire Records; and a couple more that for some reason I can't remember right now (go Fridays!). I'll figure it out at 2am tonight I'm sure.
Posted on Friday, March 14, 2003
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I caught the start of the twisted world of Spinal Tap meets the Backstreet Boys last night, with Get Ready to be Boyzvoiced in the Cult movie slot on SBS. The first thirty minutes were pretty damn good, and I've got the rest on tape to guffaw through tonight.
Posted on Tuesday, February 25, 2003
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Two movies in two days. Woo.
Wednesday Matt, Steve and I caught Michael Moore's excellent Bowling for Columbine at Luna. Amazing doco, brilliantly funny and moving in the same beat. It's won a heap of awards, all well deserved. Don't miss it. (Update: there's a pretty good interview with Moore in ABC Online's arts site)
Thursday a gang of us went along to check out The Ring at Sunset (because there's no better place to watch a scary movie than with a few hundred strangers in the middle of a big, wooded, deserted park). Pretty damn good, but I want to see the original Japanese version now. Beautifully directed by Gore Verbinski and shot by Bojan Bazelli.
And because I think we can all appreciate a movie featuring a lead cast member who has also starred in Australia's own fine productions of Echo Point of Home and Away. As a matter of fact, both the lead roles feature ex Home and Away talent. Bet you never saw that coming.
Posted on Friday, February 7, 2003
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Catch Me If You Can, Speilberg's latest little film (and for once, you can actually describe a Speilberg film as little without watching pigs fly into the sunset) is a surprisingly good film. Particularly so when you consider it's come from Speilberg, who's stayed well away from the drama/comedy mix for a while, and even got pretty depressed (in a kinda saccharine, Speilberg way) with Minority Report and AI, which were pretty devoid of the usual Hollywood lightness.
But anyway, the opening titles rocked. Funky retro is a pretty safe bet, but these were particularly well conceived and animated. Almost worth checking out the film for them alone. That, and the surprisingly restrained acting from Hanks and DiCaprio.
It's the sort of film Hollywood hasn't made in a long while. Almost a sixties flick, but with that hint of self-awareness that comes with filmmaking right now.
I'd link above to the official site for the movie at Dreamworks, but it's a whopping 1.7 megs worth of Flash. I think it's safe to assume it's all pointless fluff — I didn't bother waiting around. Is it just me, or is that pretty damn rude?
Posted on Wednesday, January 15, 2003
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I finally picked up my copy of U2's new Best of 1990-2000 CD today, complete with bonus b-sides and bonus-bonus dvd (can't help but notice these 'bonuses' bump up the price to $39). But it's all worth it just for a booklet full of Anton Corbijn's beautiful photos.
Check out the photography section of his site.. Corbijn manages to take the most creative photos of celebrities, which has got to be a tough brief. Muchos respect.
Posted on Wednesday, November 6, 2002
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I made a crazy last-minute decision to see Nine Queens at the Luna last night. Excellent film, a lot of fun, and some great characters — recommended. Ditto the always funky Luna Leederville cinemas.
Posted on Thursday, October 17, 2002
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Proving that visual psychology works, here's two very happy visual things:
— BMW Films are returning for another (albeit shorter) season.
— Spike Jonez made an ad for Ikea
Posted on Wednesday, October 16, 2002
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And the rest...